As the head of a sparrow on a human body points to the former worship of Quetzalcoatl under the form of a sparrow, so the humming-bird attribute on the image and in the name of Huitzilopochtli, points him out as an original animal god. The general mythological rule, that such animal attributes refer to an ancient worship of the god in question under the form of an animal, points this out in his case, and the special myth of Huitziton assists here in the investigation of the foundation of this original nature.
When the Aztecs still lived in Aztlan, a certain Huitziton enjoyed their highest esteem, as the fable tells. This Huitziton heard the voice of a bird, which cried "tihui," that is 'let us go.'[VIII-11] He thereupon asked the people to leave their home, which they accordingly did. When we consider the name Huitziton, the nature of the story, and the mythical time to which it refers, no doubt remains as to who this Huitziton is supposed to be. It is evident that he is none other than the little bird itself, which, in our later form of the myth, as an anthropomorphic fable, is separated from him; separated euhemeristically, just as the Latin Picus was separated from his woodpecker. This Picus, whose songs and flight were portentous, was represented as a youth with a woodpecker on his head, of which he made use for his seer-art; but was originally, as denoted by his name, nothing else than a woodpecker, which was adored on the wooden pillar from which it sent its sayings. This woodpecker placed itself upon the vexillum of the Sabines, and guided them to the region which has been named Picenum after it. As this bird guided its people to their new abode, like Huitziton, so many other animal gods have lead those who, in ancient times, sought new homes. Thus a crow conducted Battus to Cyrene; a dove led the Chalcidians to Cyrene; Apollo, in the form of a dolphin, took the Cretans to Pytho; Antinous founded a new settlement, to which a snake had pointed the way; a bull carried Cadmus to Thebes; a wolf led the Hirpinians. The original stock of the South American people, the Mbayas, received the divine order, through the bird Caracara, to roam as enemies in the territories of other people instead of settling down in a fixed habitation—this is an anti-culture myth. As the founding of towns favors the birth of myths like the preceding, so also does the founding of convents, the sites of which, according to the numerous fables of the Christian mediæval age, were pointed out by animals—one of the remnants of old heathenism then existing in the popular fancy. To resume the subject, Huitziton is, therefore, the humming-bird god, who, as oracular god, commanded the Aztecs to emigrate. His name signifies nothing else than 'small humming-bird,' the ending ton being a diminutive syllable, as in Paynalton. Thus the humming-bird was the bearer, at the time of the great flood, of the divine message of joy to the Tezpi of the Michoacans, a people related to the Aztecs. It had been let loose as the water receded, and soon returned with a small twig to the ark.[VIII-12] On the Catherine Islands [islands of Santa Catalina],[VIII-13] in California, crows were adored as interpreters of the divine will. From the above it is also self-evident that Huitziton and Huitzilopochtli were one, which is the conclusion arrived at by the learned researcher of Mexican languages and traditions, the Italian Boturini. The name, myth, and attributes of Huitzilopochtli point then to the humming-bird. Previous to the transformation of this god, by anthropomorphism, he was merely a small humming-bird, huitziton; by anthropomorphism, the bird became, however, merely the attribute, emblem or symbol, and name of the god—a name which changed with his form into 'humming-bird on the left,' or Huitzilopochtli.
The identity of the two, in spite of the different explanations of the name, is accepted by Veytia, who gives Huitzitoc as the name of the chief who led the Aztec armies during their last wanderings from Chicomoztoc, or the Seven Caves, into Anáhuac. Under his leadership the Aztecs were everywhere victorious, and for this reason he was placed, after his death, on the left side of the god Tezcatlipoca; since which time he was called Huitzilopochtli.
HUITZITON AND PAYNALTON.
The identity of Huitziton and Huitzilopochtli, is also shown by other facts besides the name, the attribute, and the mythological analogy: the same important acts are ascribed to both. We have seen that Huitziton commanded the Aztecs to leave their home; according to another account of Acosta, this was done on the persuasion of Huitzilopochtli. If other Spanish authors state that this was done by instigation of the devil, they mean none other than Huitzilopochtli, using a mode of speech which had become an established one. This name became a common title of the devil in Germany, under the form of Vizliputzli, soon after the conquest of Mexico, as may be seen in the old popular drama of Faust. The fable further relates of Huitziton that he taught the Aztecs to produce fire by friction, during their wanderings. The gift of fire is usually ascribed to a culture-god. Huitzilopochtli was such a deity; he introduced dress, laws, and ceremonies among his people. The statement that Huitziton had at some time, given fire to the people, has no historical meaning; there is no people without fire, and a formerly told myth mentions that man made fire even before the existence of the present sun. The signification of the fable is a religious one, it is a myth in which the Aztecs ascribe the origin of all human culture to Huitziton their culture-god, afterward Huitzilopochtli.
SACRIFICE MYTHS.
This god wore also a band of human hearts and faces of gold and silver; while various bones of dead men, as well as a man torn in pieces, were depicted on his dress. These attributes like those of the Indian Schiwa and Kali, clearly point him out as the god to whom human sacrifices were made. It was extensively believed among the nations composing the Mexican Empire that human sacrifices had been introduced by the Aztecs within the last two centuries. Before that time only bloodless offerings had been made. A myth places the commencement of human sacrifices in the fourteenth century, in which the three first successive cases thereof are said to have occurred.
The Colhuas, the ruling nation at that time in the valley of Anáhuac, are said to have fought a battle with their enemies of Xochimilco, which was decided in favor of the Colhuas, owing to the impetuous attack made by the tributary Aztecs in their aid. While the Colhuas were presenting a large number of prisoners before their king, the Aztecs had only secured four, whom they kept secreted, but exhibited, in token of their bravery, a number of ears that they had cut from their slain enemies, boasting that the victory would have been much delayed had they lost time in making prisoners. Proud of their triumph, they erected an altar to Huitzilopochtli, in Huitzilopochco, and made known to their lord, the king of the Colhuas, that they desired to offer this god a costly and worthy sacrifice. The king sent them, by the hands of priests, a dead bird, which the messengers laid irreverently upon the altar, and departed. The Aztecs swallowed their chagrin, and set a fragrant herb with a knife of iztli beside the bird. As the king with his suite arrived at the festival, more for the sake of mocking the proceedings than to grace them, the four prisoners taken from the Xochimilcos were brought out, placed upon the stone of sacrifice, their breasts cut open with the iztli, and the palpitating heart torn out. This sacrifice brought consternation upon the Colhuas, they discharged the Aztecs from their service and drove them away. The Aztecs wandered for some time about the country, and then, at the command of their god, founded the town of Tenochtitlan, or Mexico, on a site where they had found a nopal (Opuntie) growing upon a rock.
At the second sacrifice a Colhua was the victim. An Aztec was hunting, on the shore of the lake, for an animal to offer his patron deity, when he met a Colhua called Xomimitl; he attacks him furiously, bears him down, and the defeated man is made to bleed upon the sacrifice stone.